I've always loved amvs and I have songs that fit most of the characters, but surprisingly most of them haven't been done yet.

is there anyone willing to show me how to do one of these? i'll be a good student and give you most of the credit (if we win which i don't think we will) but I have loads of ideas and nothing to "up load" them to.

i don't want to have to buy anything though.

cosplays i have complete:
Rocket Member (myself as a team rocket member)
Yurio (yuri on ice)
Rinku (yu yu hakusho Magi (aladdin Magnoshetot)

I am only so nice once your mean to me i will ignore you and pretend you don't exist: childish but effective

There are quite a few good tutorials on how to get started. The READBAG at A-M-V.org is good, though somewhat outdated currently, and the guides at PixelBlended are excellent and more current.

Not wanting to buy anything is going to be a problem, though. There really isn't any good free editing software. However, there are low cost options. Sony Vegas has its least expensive edition for around $50, and Adobe Premiere Elements runs around $80 (or $150 for a bundle with Photoshop Elements). If you're a student, you can even subscribe to Adobe's Creative Cloud, which gives you access to everything they make (the full Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, etc.) for $20 a month ($50/month for non-students).

To add to this, if you have never made one before it would be best to either play with a free trial of said programs (sony vegas and adobe premire elements) before buying them or use a free program like Live Movie Maker to see if you like video editing.

LantisEscudo wrote:Not wanting to buy anything is going to be a problem, though. There really isn't any good free editing software. However, there are low cost options. Sony Vegas has its least expensive edition for around $50, and Adobe Premiere Elements runs around $80 (or $150 for a bundle with Photoshop Elements). If you're a student, you can even subscribe to Adobe's Creative Cloud, which gives you access to everything they make (the full Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, etc.) for $20 a month ($50/month for non-students).

[OBLIGATORY MAGIX PLUG]
I needed to buy a new copy to bring to Iron Editor at SC and I popped into my local electronics store and got Magix Movie Edit Pro Plus 15 for $39.99. >_>

Luscia wrote:To add to this, if you have never made one before it would be best to either play with a free trial of said programs (sony vegas and adobe premire elements) before buying them or use a free program like Live Movie Maker to see if you like video editing.

I can vouch for this. Best advice I can offer is that you take your editor of choice and just play with it. Experiment, make something you don't intend to show others but to simply get the hang of your program and skills at first.
I can also recommend Videopad video editor. It doesn't have the bells and whistles of Sony Vegas, but it gets the job done.

I learned to edit with Ulead Media Studio (back in 2002 and 2003) but didn't get really officially trained on anything until I took a film class in college that used Final Cut circa 2006/2007. I then jumped to premier and have been very happy with it. That all being said, you don't need the best software(TM) to make amazing amvs. Like 60-80% of a video is getting the right song and the right source footage and being able to time it and cut it. Some of the more expensive options make it easier to do it, or allow you to layer stuff on to improve your video. The last 20% that takes most videos from a B into the A range is source quality and effects at about 10% each.

For example not all of my videos are great or even good, but most of them have crystal clear footage because I spend a lot of time on that.